Ux eansom



(No Model.)

E. RANSOM.

GAR GOUPLING.

No. 325,114. Patented Aug.` 25, 1885.

' WMM- Ezrk Raman.

limitan drames PA ENT rines.

EZRA. RANSOM, OF FLINT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES l\[. PITTNAM, OF SAME PLACE. n

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 325,l14 dated August 25, 1885.

Application filed June 4, 1895. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern: ing of the ordinary construction, except that Be it known that I, Exim RANSOM, of Flint, the pinvhole is elongated to the rear, thereby in the county of Genesee and State of Michiv forming a slot through the draw-head for the gan, have invented new and useful Improvevertical operations ol' the pin-carrier B and inents in Car-Couplings, and lv do hereby depin C, the latter of which is removably se- 5 clare that the following is a full, clear, and cured to the ll'ormer by means of the hookedexact description thereof, reference being had shaped pintle b, passing through a hole, c, to the accompanying drawings, which form a having an elongation or slot, d, at its upper part of this specification. edge, through which the hook end ofthe pin- Io This invention relates to certain new and tle passes by raising the pin with its point 6o useful improvements in that class of car-coupupward until the engagement takes place, ling devices which may be terme( automatwhen the pin being left will fall to its vertical ic77 in their action, and which do not require, position with the point projecting downward, for the purposes of coupling, a yard-man to go the hook end of the pint-le then forming a locl;

between the cars for the purpose of guiding to prevent accidental disengagement of the 65 the link or dropping the pin, and which may pin from its carrier. Should the pin at any be nncoupledfrom outside the line of the cars. time become broken, the broken one may be The great desiderata required in a perfect deremoved and a new one inserted without dil'- viee for this purpose are, iirst, certainty of ticulty.

2o coupling when the cars are brought together; A box, D, to inclose the hereinafterlde- 7o second, certainty of uncoupling when desired scribed operating parts, is cast integral with by the operator standing outside the line of the draw-head and pendent below the same, cars, third, certainty of remaining coupled or it may be made separately and secured to when in operation, against all ordinary posisuch draw-head in any convenient manner.

tions which the cars may assume upon rough This box has closed sides, as shown distinctly roads; and, fourtln'a certainty'that the coupin Fig. l, with an open front, such front couling device, when the cars are uncoupled, is forming, .for the purpose of saving weight, to always in position to secure certainty of coupthe general conformation of the parts which ling when they are brought together, and such it incloses.

3o an arrangement ot' the parts that no ordinary E is a wheel, nearly round, having a hook, 8o accident can prevent this latter action. c, formed upon its periphery; and this wheel The invention consists in so constructing has a central aperture, 71, which fits upon the and arranging the various parts as to meet the rod fr', which latter passes through and isjouri above requirements, and in the peculiar con naled in the two sides of the suspended box struction ofthe parts and their combinations, D, and has its two ends connected, by what 85 as more l'ully hereinafter described.. may be termen univei sal joints F, with the Figure l is a perspective view of my imrods G, the outer ends of which are supported proved device as attached to the end of a secfrom the sill of the car in suitablejournals, g, tion of afireight-car. Fig. 2 is a vertical cenand terminate in cianlchandles lr, by means 4o tral longitudinal section through the device, of which from outside the line ofthe cars the 9o as shown in Fig. l, ready for coupling. Fig. wheel E may be rotated at pleasure. Secured 3 is a like view showing the coupling coniat m to the periphery ot the wheel E is a pleted. Fig. 4 is a crosssection on the line x chain, H, the other end of which is secured to .r in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detached perspective the lower end of the bar I, of which the pinview ofthe pin-carrier and its attachments. carrier B forms the head. 95

In the accompanying drawings, A repre. It will be seen that so far as is above desents a cast-iron draw-head, having the usual scribed the turning of either of the handles k aring1noutli,u,and the usual vertical pin-hole in one direction will have a tendency, when in rear of the mouth, through which the pin the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 3,

5o passes to engage with the link, such parts bewherein the pin C is shown as being engaged Ico with the link J, to raise the pin-carrier and pin until the latter is disengaged from the link, as shown in Fig. 2. When in this latten described position, if the pressure upon the crank is removed, the Weight of the pin and its carrier would reverse the motion of the wheel and allow the pin and carrier to drop back to the original position, as shown in Fig. 3. Therefore it is necessary, in order to retain the position in Fig. 2, that some means shall be adopted for holding the carrier and its pin in such aposition ready to engage again with the enteringlink J.' rlhis I accomplish by means of a dog, L, the lower end of which is provided with a notch, n, and its the periphery of the wheel E when the cars v are coupled or the device is in operation, as shown in Fig. 3; but when the wheel E is rotated in a proper direction for uncoupling or raising the carrier and its pin the notched end ofthe dogrwill engage with the point or hook e upon the periphery of the wheel E, and this changes the pivotal point of support from the upper end ofthe slot, as shown in Fig. 3, to near the central point of said slot, until the link J is withdrawn, when the pivot-point is further changed down to the foot of the slot thereby forming a lock which holds the dog in the position shown in Fig. 2, with its upper end presented forward and at some little distance from the rear end of the recess for the link, so that the entering link striking this end of the dog forces it backward, releasing its lock upon the point e on the wheel, when the gravity or weight of the pincarrier and pin forces them down and rotates the wheel in the opposite direction to the point shown in Fig. 3. The pincarrier is cut away, as shown at t, to form a curved face lo partially embrace the end of the link when the cars are coupled, and this curvature is for two purposes-first, that of preserving, when the link is in place, its level by the weight of the pin-carrier and pin, and, secondly, that if a great concussion is brought to bearupon the end of the link by two adjacent cars coming together with such great force as might have a tendency to cause injury to the parts, the link has a tendency to travel along the rear curvature and raise the carrier with its pin sufliciently to prevent such injury. In the rear of this cut-away place in the pin-carrier head there is formed a recess, u, to receive and loosely embracethe upper end, o, of the dog, and this is made somewhat necessary in order to get the dog into its proper' position and form a suflicient chamber in the rear of the link when engaged to provide the necessary slack.

Although I do not consider it absolutely necessary, stillfor the purpose of greater safety I provide a lug, o.

Upon the rear face of the arm I ofthe pincarrier, which travels in a slot, w, in the rear wall of the box D, and near the top of such' box, a pin, fr, passes through the box, against which thelug will strike and prevent an accicidental throwing up'too far of the pin-carrier and its pin. Should it be necessary from any cause to remove the pin C, this pin x is driven out, which allows the pin-carrier to be raised sufficiently far as to allow the pin S to be turned into its vertical opposite position from that shown and disengaged from the carrier. This may be found necessary if by any accident the pin should be broken while the cars are in motion, in which case an ordinary pin may be employed for the coupling in order to get the train to its terminal point, when a new pin may be procured and put in place.

In practice I have a little slack to the chain I-I when the parts are in either of the positions shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and this, with the cutaway partt of the carrier, enables me to use a thicker or thinner link, .the wear upon the curvet being compensated by a corresponding wear upon the chain and its connections, and the necessary slack in rear of the entered end of the link allows the operator, by turning the cranks in the proper direction, to slightly raise the carrier and pin, which will allow the outer end of the link to drop to facilitate its entering the mouth of a draw-head upon an adjacent and lower car.

Vhen the link is entered and engaged with the pin,'its end rests against the curve tin the carrier, and the weight of the carrier and pin resting upon the end of the link will hold the same with sufficient force that the opposite end of the link entering the next draw-head will trip the dog in that draw-head and allow the pin to drop. It will be readily noticed that should such force exerted by the weight of the pin and its connections be overcome by the impact with an adjoining car, such link will secure aproper slack by forcing, by backpressure against such curve, the pin and its attachments to rise. It will also be noticed that I have in this device all the slack necessary to allowvthe link to couple cars of unequal heights.

Vhat I claim as my invention isl. In an automatic car-coupling device, a pin-carrier actuated from without the line of the car to which the coupler is attached and having a coupling pin removably secured thereto by a horizontal pivot7 whereby said pin cannot be raised without raising the Ccarrier, substantially as described.

2. In an automatic car-coupling device, a pin-carrier having a couplingpin removably secured thereto and actuated for the purpose of uncoupling by means of a chain connecting the lower end of said carrier with a wheel and its connections, as described, extending beyond the line of the car to which the coupler is attached, substantially as specied.

IIO

ISO

3. ln an automatic car-coupling device, the combination of a rotating wheel, a chain connccting said Wheel With the shank of a pincarrier, a coupling-pin removably secured to the head of said carrier. and a coupling-link, the parts being constructed and arranged With relation to a draw-head, substantially as and 'for the purposes set forth.

4. As a means of uucoupling an automatic car-coupling device, the combination of the rotating wheel, a chain connecting said Wheel to the shank of a pin-carrier, a coupling-pin removably secured to the head of such carrier, a shaft upon which the Wheel is secured, such shaft being journaled in the sides of a pendent support from the draw-head, and the crank-rods secured to the ends of such shaft, the parts being constructed, arranged, and operating substantially as described.

5. In a car-coupling device constructed and operating substantially as described, the dog supported upon a pivot-pin passing through an L- shaped slot in such dog, whereby a movable fulcrum is obtained as a. means of locking the parts in position when not engaged in coupling cars together, and forminga trip actuated by the impact of the entering link, which compels the coupling by the gravity of the coupling-pin and its attachments, substantially as described.

6. In a car-coupling device, a pincarrier having alug upon its rear face, in combination with a removable stop-pin, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

7. Aear-coupling device wherein the drawbar A, the carrier B, pin O, pendent 4box l), Wheel E, shaft z', chain H, cranlrrods G, universal joints F, and dog L are constructed, combined, and operate substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

EZRA RANSOM.

Witnesses:

H. S. SPRAGUE, E. J. SoULLv. 

